Waqar Younis vs. Glenn McGrath vs. Shoaib Akhtar

I have seen people debate many times, and generally agree, that in his peak form Waqar Younis was a superior bowler to Wasim Akram (although the latter is rated higher because of Waqar's short peak). It occurs to me that during the early stages of his career, Shoaib Akhtar was also a fabulous bowler who lost a lot of steam and skill and therefore lost a lot of potential respect.

What do you think the rankings are between these three bowlers - Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Glenn McGrath - if all three were playing at their peak form in their primes? And, would you rate the person who you place as #1 in this list as better than any other pace bowler of all-time at their peak?

Yeah, peaks are deceptive things and fairly meaningless. It could be argued that Mendis at his peak tied into knots an all-time great batting lineup against spin. Others would say he was worked out after that.

TBF however, Waqar's peak is generally acknowledged as a pretty lengthy and special one.. still, I'd probably only put him level with McGrath who barely had even one poor Test series in his long and distinguished career.

How long are you talking about when you say peak? A day, a month, a year?

Yeah exactly; I don't like dealing in peaks because I just never know when it stop narrowing it down. If someone was picked too early or retired too late I don't mind excluding parts of their career, but if you're just going to narrow it down to two or three years, why stop there? You could make an argument to suggest that Michael Vaughan's peak as a bowler was greater than Jason Gillespie's because the best ball he ever bowled was better than the best ball Gillespie ever bowled. True as that might be, it's fairly irrelevant when comparing them as bowlers.

Rejecting 'analysis by checklist' and 'skill absolutism' since Dec '09
'Stats' is not a synonym for 'Career Test Averages'

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Tucker

People go into politics to change the world. That's a bad idea. The only good reason to go into politics is to sweep government away so that the world can change itself.

Originally Posted by GIMH

Freddie is the greatest cricketer ever so the fact these comparisons are being made means three things: